by Howard J. Ross, Chief Learning Officer
People across the globe are gripped by the surprise news of the death of Osama bin Laden. For many, a part of us views his death as a catharsis for our anger which has brewed for more than a decade. Another part of us embraces the release of a powerful and nagging fear which has insinuated itself into daily lives in a way that many of us have not felt before.
What is the impact of fear on us as individuals and as a society? How does fear impact our decisions, responses, and thoughts? In some cases, we can transform our fear into great works of creativity and tremendous acts of courage. In all too many cases, fear can transform itself into destructive cynicism and division.
Last week, we saw a textbook example of how collective fear can be manipulated for political purposes. Donald Trump has dominated the airwaves the past couple of months as news reporters all over the country have seemed to salivate over every opportunity to hear him challenge President Obama’s citizenship. Even as this charge had been proven to have far less credibility than the aliens supposed hidden in a vault in New Mexico. As we all know, the President, finally tired of the distraction, had his lawyers arrange to produce a second official birth notification to again substantiate that he was born in this country, demonstrating that there was nothing but hot air to “The Donald’s” charges.
But that has not stopped Trump. He now is challenging the President’s academic credentials. But what is Trump really trying to say when he charges that he has “read” that President Obama was an underachieving student? Is he questioning his intelligence? If so it’s a challenging charge against a former Harvard Law Review editor whose political enemies have even labeled him an “effete professor.” Is he suggesting that there was some unethical play involved? I don't think so.
He is trying very hard, as he has been all along, to remind us (as if we needed reminding) that President Obama is black. Sadly, this kind of race baiting is not unusual in American politics. It was just a couple of years ago that Congressman Harold Ford of Tennessee lost his United States Senate race in after his opponent ran a commercial suggesting that Ford was interested in white women. I could list dozens of other examples but, of course, they are all too familiar.
The real question in my mind is, why is this so newsworthy? Trump is, to put it bluntly, a buffoon and a vulgarian. His single appealing quality, to some, is that he is rich and arrogant. There is no consistency in any of his political points of view. He was for universal healthcare before he became against it. He was for marriage equality before he flip-flopped He called George W. Bush the “worst president in history” before he decided that President Obama deserved the title. Hasn’t the man ever heard of videotape? This is a man who attempts to appeal to social conservatives after a lifetime of philandering. A person who, Carrie Prejean claimed, insisted that participants in the beauty pageants he was running parade before him so that he could separate those he found sexually appealing from those he didn’t.
What does it say about American culture and American politics today that a person of this caliber is considered a serious candidate (by some) for the presidency of the United States? What is the mindset that allows this to happen?
Back in 1999, I was hired by the Atlanta Braves to help them deal with the infamous John Rocker incident. For those of you who don’t remember, Rocker was a Braves pitcher who, in an interview with Sports Illustrated reporter Jeff Pearlman, made insulting comments about a broad range of people, including people of color, immigrants, single mothers, and gays and lesbians. After he came back from his suspension, he was met with a strange reaction. Many people expressed their dissatisfaction with his comments by booing him. But a significant group of people in every ballpark turned him into a cause celebre. He was greeted often with rousing cheers.
There is something in our cultural psyche that vicariously lives through people whose vulgarity allows our deepest, darkest thoughts to emerge. And when those thoughts are about subjects that are politically incorrect to talk about out loud (sexist, racist, and homophobic thoughts), we seem even more interested in those very people. After Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in Arizona, people understandably called for an end to rifle targets on pictures of politicians. Yet, why is the media feeding rather than ignoring the “rifle targets” in Trump’s charges? I’m not suggesting censorship, I simply asking why a bloviating entertainer is given so much airtime? Why is he being fawned over and desperately sought for interviews? And what is the impact of this inordinate amount of attention on our national discourse?
I have little hope that NBC will make the same call that they did when Charlie Sheen became so offensive that they no longer wanted him representing them. “The Apprentice” is too popular, I suppose, for standards of decency to derail it.
But it is time for people who stand for a more civil discourse in our society; who do not want to live in a society of coded racism and sexism, to let Trump and NBC know that, in no uncertain terms, we desire a higher level of discourse in our politics, and in our society. It is a relatively simple act to begin. Whenever you see him on TV, change the station. When The Apprentice comes on, turn it off. And let people know about it. This is a man who feeds on attention. Like a vampire, it is his lifeblood. Starve him.
Just keep a simple thought in the mind. Whenever he comes on your screen, change the channel and simple say, “You’re fired!”
